Competition heating up in UAE aviation

Abu Dhabi: Competition will further intensify in the UAE's aviation sector as more airlines expand their fleets, according to a top British Airways (BA) executive.

"The UAE aviation sector is becoming one of the most competitive in the region, given the remarkable expansion of Emirates and Etihad fleets," said Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of BA.

BA is investing 100 million pounds (Dh694 million) to introduce a new business class seat.

"Of a total of 450 million pounds of expenditures, we are allocating 100 million pounds for the introduction of the new seat," said Gavin Halliday, Middle East, Asia and the Pacific area commercial manager.

The introduction of the new business class seat comes at a time when the major airlines are expanding their fleets, and upgrading their standards.

With US United Airlines launching flights to Kuwait, and Delta airlines re-launching its Dubai route, and its proposed takeover by US Airways to form the world's largest airline, further competition will shift to the trans-Atlantic routes from the region as well, given the long absence of US carriers from the Middle East.

However, Walsh was not concerned by such threat, claiming that "BA's product is far superior to whatever US airlines are offering, where Delta is bankrupt, and United filed for bankruptcy for 3 years and 3 months," he said, noting that these carriers did not invest or expand their fleets for three years.

A total of £4.7 billion is being invested in Heath-row Airport's expansion by adding a fifth terminal dedicated to BA, and equipped to handle the A380, while terminal 3 has already been modified for the superjumbo.

"We have a route network that could support the introduction of the A380, yet we have 57 Boeing 747-400s in our long-haul fleet," Walsh added.